A judge went above federal guidelines last Friday to give a Kansas City, Kansas, man nine years in prison to protect the elderly people he preyed upon, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Judge John Gerrard said Thomas Whitlow is 53 and has held just one job, for a year. Perhaps because our prisons are filled, Whitlow continued his career as a criminal until he did something bad enough to get a judge’s attention. He was convicted of operating a scam to get money from senior relatives of people listed in online obituaries, by calling and claiming to be a nephew or other relative who needed cash fast.
In a search of Whitlow’s home a year ago, investigators found a scrap of paper with a handwritten note that appeared to corroborate the accusation. It listed names from a Texas obituary, a reference to “wealthy people” and the name of an area west of Fort Worth.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said Whitlow had his wife, Yolanda Clemons, comb online obituaries and search for phone numbers of brothers or sisters of the dead. Clemons testified he asked her to track down people who could pick up wire transfers, and she called her niece Tempest Amerson, who asked others to help.
The victims forked over a total of $17,521.
Whitlow maintains his innocence and said he will appeal.
Judge Russell called what Whitlow did particularly heinous, preying on the elderly “in order to basically finance his life.”
Most of us have tolerated bogus phone calls – from people claiming to be relatives in trouble, from the “IRS” or from the representative of a fake lottery with a huge prize we’ve just “won.” Even the calls that are legal and skirt the “do not call” list can be annoying interruptions, and costly to those who don’t hang up.
Having to protect our senior citizens from these people is an outrage. Scams should be treated like burglaries; attempts treated like attempted burglaries. Stiff penalties are appropriate.